Retirements providing spots for four laid-off Trenton cops

TRENTON — A slew of retirements effective April 1 will allow the police department to rehire officers for the first time since October, so four laid-off officers will likely have their jobs back soon, according to the unions and the city’s police director.

Mayor Tony Mack authorized acting police director Dave Armitage to begin preparing for the officers’ return about a month ago after it became evident that there would be a large number of retirements in April.

“We jumped right on it,” Armitage said yesterday.

About half of the 105 officers laid off last September remain jobless, he said.

In the wake of the layoffs, the size the police department was revised down to 199 officers and detectives and 31 supervisors. With the April 1 retirements, the number of officers will drop below 199 — to 195 — for the first time since the layoffs. The four available slots will be filled with laid-off officers taken from a special re-employment list, Armitage said.

Two weeks after the mid-September layoffs, city police were able to bring back 18 officers, using savings from retirements and grant money. The grant funding, left over from a 2009 federal cop-hiring award, will run out April 1, but the heavy rate of retirements led police commanders to determine as far back as December that the 18 rehired officers would remain on the force permanently.

George Dzurkoc, president of the Policemen’s Benevolent Association, praised Armitage’s leadership on the rehires and said he hoped the city administration was taking quick action to get the cops back on the job as soon as possible.

Armitage said he sent the necessary paperwork to Mack’s administration three weeks ago. The city must send the paperwork to both the state Department of Community Affairs and the Civil Service Commission, which will generate the rehire list allowing the city to bring the officers back, Armitage said.